Retired PLA General Wang Hongguang, former Deputy Commander of the Nanjing Military Region, disclosed on March 13, 2017, that China was preparing to counter the US deployment of THAAD with its own anti-radar equipment. He said Beijing had measures in place to neutralise THAAD’s radars and “We will complete our deployment before THAAD begins operations. There is no need to wait for two months [before the election of the next South Korean president]. We already have such equipment in place. We just have to move it to the right spot.” Yue Gang, a military commentator and former PLA Colonel, said China could either destroy THAAD or neutralise it and “Destroying [THAAD] should only be an option during wartime.” But he added that China could interfere with the system’s functions through electromagnetic technology. He said an ideal place to install the Chinese equipment was on the Shandong peninsula on the country’s east coast, opposite South Korea. Fu Qianshao, an aviation equipment expert with the PLA Air Force, said the country’s armed forces had the capacity to interfere with radar signals and China could send planes – manned or unmanned – to fly close to THAAD to interfere with its radar signals.
|
